Investors are, by necessity, experts at taking calculated risks. They scan the horizon of our ever-evolving world for new and sometimes unexpected economic challenges so that they can put their money where it’s most likely to grow. Today, financial institutions are facing one economic challenge that will fundamentally change the way we do business—climate change.
Climate change is a risk that, while significant, is oftentimes misunderstood by the financial community. A warmer world introduces new, complex and interwoven layers of risks ranging from physical, financial, regulatory and reputational. So WRI and the UNEP Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) worked with more than 150 participants from the financial sector to create the Carbon Asset Risk Discussion Framework, a tool to help financial institutions undertake the difficult task of identifying and understanding climate-related risks to their portfolios.
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In this interview, EcoPeace Directors Nada Majdalani (Palestine), Yana Abu-Taleb (Jordan) and Gidon Bromberg (Israel) explain why disengaging from a shared environment can aggravate the region’s security challenges.
At the conclusion of the 50th Pacific Islands Forum, Pacific leaders issued a Forum Communiqué and the ‘Kainaki II Declaration for Urgent Climate Change Action Now’ – the strongest collective statement the Forum has issued on climate change. Pacific leaders highlight the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Action Summit, the SAMOA Pathway Review, and 25th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 25) to the UNFCCC as “global turning points to ensure meaningful, measurable and effective climate change action”.
If ratified, the Mercosur-EU trade deal may reinforce the parties’ commitment to climate action. Yet, its potential relevance is weakened by a language that often stops short of concrete commitments, as well as political resistance.
Iraq is on the verge of an environmental breakdown, and climate change is not helping. The country's fragile environment and the increasing scarcity of natural resources — particularly water — are a result of poor environmental management, as well as several political and historical factors. However, as climate change impacts add to the existing pressures, the environmental collapse turns into a security issue.